Good thing the newly crowned Miss America, Nina Davuluri, chose the pageant platform “celebrating diversity through cultural competency.”
It’s an agenda that could benefit many, since clearly some white Americans skipped the day cultural awareness, nationality and citizenship were outlined in high school civics.
Unabashed racism clouded Sunday’s Miss America competition when Davuluri was crowned queen and became the first Indian-American to earn the honor.
Her talent performance introduced Bollywood fusion to the stage. She said she felt honored to bring it there for herself, her family and the Indian community.
But Davuluri missed an opportunity to stand by her diversity platform during a post-pageant news conference where she was asked about negative comments concerning her Indian heritage.
She deflected the real issue, much like her interview response during the competition. She gave an elegant, inconsequential answer.
“I have to rise above that,” Davuluri said. “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
It was enough to satisfy fans and lend the queen a graceful glow in the darkness dimming her victory, but it didn’t connect to her message of diversity and cultural understanding.
She is a second generation Indian-American, but tweets labeled her Arab, Muslim and a member of al-Qaida. People expressed confusion as to how a non-American could become Miss America, even though Davuluri was born in Syracuse, N.Y.
We need her to take initiative in her year long vocation to make culturally competent humans out of losers who begin social media posts by disclaiming, “I swear I’m not racist, but …”
With national media locked in on the controversy, this Miss America won’t have more influence or reach during her reign than she does now. In the morning talk shows, the newspaper profiles and the magazine interviews, she has a chance to change perception about race and ethnicity. But so far, we haven’t seen it.
Similarly racist broadcasts were made after “The Hunger Games.” Fans were shocked to learn some characters are black, and an outcry erupted from this country’s racist peanut gallery following the 2012 presidential election.
This time, I suppose inspired by the high fashion and fun style of the Miss America contest, some Twitter users even mixed and matched their ethnic discrimination. How trendy.
“Well they just picked a Muslim for Miss America. That must’ve made Obama happy. Maybe he had a vote,” tweeted user @EJRBuckeye.
Thank goodness a Twitter search through #MissAmerica now mostly shows disbelief and anger about the negative reactions to Davuluri’s crowning.
That’s more like it, America.
Twitter and Facebook bear the scars of #facepalm and 500-word comments on shared links denouncing the state of humanity.
If facts and common sense aren’t enough to dissuade racist behavior, maybe public shaming will do the trick. There’s a reason BuzzFeed doesn’t blur out the names or Twitter handles of the perpetrators in its articles.
Throughout her reign, Davuluri should take the same direct approach to the ignorant masses. This type of blind nationalism is poisonous to our efforts to be united as a country, and it gives American pride the stench of xenophobia.
Instead of lowering her sparkling eyelids over the issue or “rising above that,” our new Miss America needs to address the people who’ve mistaken her for a terrorist.
Morgan Searles is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Baton Rouge studying abroad in Amsterdam.